What's New and Exciting

It has been awhile since Tylissa's birthday and a lot has happened and at the same time not much has happened. Is that even possible? So what has happened. The kids finished another trimester at school and we are on the downhill side. Yippee! They are doing ok, Tylissa is working so hard, Keston made the honor roll, and Chad is doing also well.

I cut my hair - 12 inches. To me it is very short but I am starting to like it. I donated the hair to Locks of Love. If your going to cut it might as well go big.

I also took a day off from work and by the end of the day I was enrolled in college. Yep, I have been asking myself ever since - What was I thinking? I found a great program through Ashford University and hopefully in a couple of years I will have a Bachelor of Arts degree in Health Marketing and Communications. Classes are five weeks each so it moves pretty fast. I get worried that I won't remember it all. I did great for my first class but now that I am almost half way done my second class all I can think of is ugh! Really who cares if I put the appropriate citations in my weekly assignments, my instructor probably but ahhhhhh! Did I already say UGH!?! Two years - I can do this for two years, right?

We are gearing up for the spring, Val's busy season has started and he and Keston have a huge Scout camp with summer that Val is involved with so we don't see much of him.

We just found out that Keston gets to work out at Melita Island again this summer, he is pretty excited. I'm not sure how much we will see him this summer if he is on the island a lot.

Track season has started for Keston - he has tried out the high jump and the hurdles at practice, but he is not sure if he will compete in them. He is having fun trying them out. He is still going to do the long jump and the triple jump and he is going to add in the mile and maybe the 100 meter. Meets start next week but he is going to miss the first one because he has a temple trip.

Chad is also going to try track this year. He's not sure what he wants to try but it is something new for him. His practices will start in a couple of weeks.

Well spring is going to be busy but bring it on because it is coming anyway.

Happy Birthday Valentine!

Happy Birthday Tylissa - I can't believe you are sweet 16. Love you!

Look what happens when you blink - they grow up way to fast.

Her 15th birthday. I really love her smile.

2009, in high school and growing faster than I want her to.

Tylissa, the teenager, having fun at the Calgary zoo in 2008.

Summer of 2007 - having fun at the waterslides. Life is great when you're 12.

August 2006 - Tylissa's last first day of elementary school. She is starting grade 6. Her hair really grows a lot in a year.

August 2005 - Tylissa's first day of grade 5. I love her smile.

Another cute haircut on my big 10 year old. Oct 2004.

This was Tylissa's last year of dance. She started violin lessons had hasn't looked back. May 2003.

What a cute 8 year old.

Tylissa's class made alphabet soup - she's still 7 here.

May 2001 7 years old, I sent the kids to bed and I was amazed at how great they went to bed only to discover that this is what they were doing. Keston drew a beautiful cat face on Tylissa. It took a few days and scrubbings to completely come off so she went to school with faded kitty face.

This is my favorite picture ever! My beautiful kids and they really love each other. Tylissa is almost 6, Keston is 2 1/2 and Chad is just a few days old. They were so precious and then they grew up.

Tylissa's first day of kindergarten. She is so cute.

Tylissa got Chucky when she was 1 1/2 (and his still alive). She loves this cat more than anything. What a cute 4 year old.

Our big 3 year old wanted to test out her round floaty in the bathtub - what a cute smile. This was the summer of 1998.

Tylissa loved being outside with her dad. Here is out cute 2 year old fishing in the spring 1997.

Her first Christmas. Sharing pretzels with Kayden.

Tylissa's blessing day, she is wearing the same dress that Sherylee and I wore.

Weighing in at 4 lbs 13 oz our sweetheart arrived February 14, 1995.

What was he thinking?

Remember Maggie - our puppy that is all fluff and no dog?




This is Chad in Maggie's crate . . . it took him a bit to get out of there and I don't even want to know how long it took him to get in. I guess those Super Bowl commercials just weren't interesting enough he had to find something else to do.

Annual Cake Auction

We had to try for another hum dinger at the annual cake auction for the Boy Scouts. So this is what we were able to whip out. The sea serpent. Chad did help me, he made the eyes, the teeth and came up with idea of putting fruit roll up in his teeth to make it look like seaweed.



Not to shabby for not having a lot of time to put it together. We ended up getting $90 for it this year. Yeah for the Boy Scouts and people who love cake.

Keston's New Adventure

This is the last time you will see this goofy smile - those baby teeth are finally getting pulled. Yep - they are goners.

This is what Keston smiled looked like on Sunday night. What a cutie!

Here are the little treasures - two from each side. This brings back horrific memories of my trips to the dentist. Like mother like son, I remember getting my four teeth pulled.

His face is still partially numb here and he looks very rabbit like. I think I like the old smile better. It was funny to watch him talk and smile because the top lip wouldn't move.

This was his first time getting the freezing - can you believe the kid has never had cavities. He said the shot wasn't too bad and he couldn't feel a thing but he hated have the freezing way up in his nose. Luckily there were no booger catastrophes while he couldn't feel his nose.

So with the three teeth that came out over the holidays subtract these four teeth and it equals, what the heck is this kid going to be able to eat and with what teeth.

I wish I had a scanner because I would scan in the cute picture of when Keston was 18 months old and all he had was four teeth - two on the top and two on the bottom - The look was very similar.

There it is folks - the final . . . would you call this a smile? Thinking he would need soft food tonight I made chicken and mashed potatoes - when I called him for dinner he was eating crunchy Cheetos so it wasn't bothering him too terribly.

Now we will be patient and see how those teeth come in - we will find out the final to brace or not to brace the teeth in 6 months.

**The Hemsleys are now taking donations for the orthodontia work that will probably need to enter the above mouth. All major credit cards, cash and checks will be accepted**

Bow Chicky Birthday

Val just loves his birthday - he is lucky and always takes it off while the rest of us are back to the real world. Happy Birthday Dad - we sure love you!

Bye Bye Baby

The baby is no longer the baby. Okay so he really hasn't been a baby for a long time but at birthdays it seems to really sink in.


Opening his gifts - He got some great stuff - Legos, DS game, money (thanks Grandmas and Grandpas) - who could ask for anything more.



It took him a couple of hours to get his put together - we'll see how long it actually stays together.



Putting together the Build-it-Yourself Mousetrap game. I don't know how he does it but he come back from behind and beats me every time we play it.

The birthday cake - the candles were so "cool" the flame was the same color as the candle. Chad thought they were the coolest thing ever - it took him a bit to decide if he wanted to blow them out.

Boo-yah - one big breath is all it took and not one girlfriend. Can you believe our baby is 11.

Happy Birthday Chad - we sure do love you!